By
James
Hirsen
A trial is set to begin on April 13th,
which has implications for the credibility of the American media and sports
news figures. HBO is the defendant in a defamation lawsuit, which is headed to
trial in federal court, over a 2008 episode of "Real Sports with Bryant
Gumbel."
During a segment of Gumbel’s show,
it was reported that a sporting equipment maker, Mitre Sports International,
manufactured soccer balls using child labor. Mitre makes the exclusive soccer
ball of the English Premier League as well as the one used in Major League
Soccer. The fundamental question in this particular legal case is whether
Gumbel's cable television sports show featured a phony investigative report
involving exploited child workers. The segment in question, titled "Childhood
Lost," depicts children stitching soccer balls in India for 5 cents per
hour or less. Mitre filed the lawsuit in the same year that the broadcast
aired. The suit asks for tens of millions of dollars in damages, claiming that
the segment was a "hoax" and further asserting that the content of
the report was "fabricated" or "dramatized." [more...]
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